Water-based printing inks are well-known. Although such inks are preferred over solvent-based inks from an environmental point of view, they are disadvantageous from the standpoint that they are slow-drying as compared to solvent-based inks.
For flexographic printing processes, oxidizing water-based printing inks generally require the use of driers such as a cobalt naphthenate. However, the incorporation of driers into water-based inks tends to destabilize the ink, particularly at the relatively high levels of driers which are required for flexographic printing processes. Moreover, water-based inks containing the requisite levels of driers required for flexographic printing processes have objectionable odors.